Gregory Johnsen
Near East Studies Scholar, Princeton University
Gregory Johnsen, a former Fulbright Fellow in Yemen, is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. Johnsen has written for a variety of publications on Yemen including, among others, Foreign Policy, The American Interest, The Independent, The Boston Globe, and The National. He is the co-founder of Waq al-Waq: Islam and Insurgency in Yemen Blog. In 2009, he was a member of the USAID's conflict assessment team for Yemen.
Here at Waq al-waq I like to point out how important it is to know Arabic, partly because I have spent so long studying the language but also because if […]
Last week, following a Mareb Press story, I wrote a bit about the possibility of US drones patrolling the skies over Marib looking for AQAP membersThe story, it seems, has […]
Yemen’s Special Terrorism Court, not to be confused with its Special Court for the Media, announced today that it had sentenced six al-Qaeda suspects to death and the remaining 10 […]
I have often wondered what I would say if I could say something without my name being attached to my comments, I’m still not sure. But I would certainly request […]
In what can only be described as an “oh no, not this too,” moment, a car bomb exploded in the middle of a procession of al-Huthi followers celebrating the controversial […]
My schedule hasn’t really allowed me the time to blog, but I have been thinking about AQAP’s statement on the suicide attacks in north Yemen last week. The statement – […]
I know we have a number of readers in Yemen, which ranks just behind the UK and the US in readership, and soundly trounces Norway in fourth place, and so […]
Today, as many know, is the 44th anniversary of the assassination of one of this blog’s hero and a hero to many in Yemen, Muhammad Mahmud al-Zubayri. This blog takes […]
Both Brian and myself have done some more radio interviews.Brian was on the Takeaway this morningAnd I was in an NPR piece from Jackie Northam last night. (I have actually […]
A fairly but not fully comprehensive list of articles I have written.Don’t Assassinate the Dangerous Cleric al-Awlaki, Newsweek (April 13, 2010)Yemen’s Come Power Struggle, The National (March 18, 2010)AQAP in […]
Al-Tagheer is reporting that the delegation under the command of ‘Abd al-Qadir Hilal brokered an initial agreement yesterday between the protesters and the army, which was supposed to be implemented […]
Apologies for the extended absence from Waq al-waq, but the shop is back up and running after a few detours on the way back from Yemen. First up is this […]
Earlier this week Waq al-waq was rightly criticized for ignoring a number of Yemeni issues and while we don’t claim or even aim to be a one-stop shop for all […]
Yemen is a confusing place and at times that confusion is used by certain people within the country to further their own agenda. Still, after reading stories like this and […]
Mareb Press is reporting the MiG fighters have bombed a mountain in Shabwa that is suspected of being an al-Qaeda hideout. Others are suggesting that this is a not so […]
Thanks to all of our readers for writing in with a) humor and b) a horrible mess in an early post by me, which has now been fixed.
The body of Muhammad Salih al-Hanashi, the Guantanamo detainee who committed suicide, has arrived back in Yemen and will be taken to Abyan where he will be buried. This article […]
As many news outlets are reporting, an apparent suicide bomb in Yemen has killed four South Korean tourists and injured at least three Yemenis (two drivers and tourist guide) outside […]
I exchanged a number of e-mails yesterday with contacts and friends in Yemen about the truce that al-Ghad reported, most of them are cautiously optimistic and mostly believe that the […]
Sudarsan Raghavan has this profile on Nasir al-Bahri, a former bodyguard to Osama bin Laden. Nasir, or Abu Jandal, is someone many western researches on Yemen know well – and […]
Over at Foreign Policy, Marc Lynch, whom I greatly respect, suggests that I am wrong to suggest that US should rely on the Saudis in Yemen. (Full quote below) And […]
On Tuesday evening fighting broke out between the Huthis and Salafi and tribal elements near the Salafi center in Dammaj. Al-Quds al-Arabi has this incredibly well-informed account. The immediate details […]
For those in Washington and looking for something to do on December 10, I will be part of a panel discussing Yemen for the National Council on U.S.-Arab Relations,
Deadlines and an excess of “real” work has kept blogging to a minimum over the past couple of days, but now having righted our small and fragile universe Waq al-waq […]
The Yemeni papers are full of the tragic news of the Yemenia crash last night off the coast of the Comoros Islands. The victims and their families are in our […]
I have been promising myself that I would write a long post analyzing Tariq al-Fadhli’s joining of the southern movement, but it turns out that I won’t likely have any […]
One of the things I regret about this blog to date, is the relatively few number of times I have been able to shoehorn in references to Dhu al-Fiqar, al-Tahara […]
Late last week I linked to a transcript from al-Arabiyya’s Industry of Death program, entitled “al-Qaeda in Yemen.” True to my word, I woke up Saturday morning and started reading […]
I was all set to turn in for the night, when I came across this piece about Jonathan Shainin. I was lucky enough to write two pieces that Jonathan commissioned […]